Outside Inspiration: Tension in Jet
January 4, 2013
Inspirational Art
In our present issue of The Polymer Arts, there is an article about focal points–that place in a piece of art that the viewer’s eye immediately finds or continuously returns to. There are many ways to establish a focal point and our article discusses the more common ones. Jacqueline Cullen‘s bracelet, shown here, is an example of yet another type of focal point, one that is undeniable. In fact, you almost can’t pull your gaze from the central focus of the piece.
This strong focal point is created by tension. We have granulation in gold which, in contrast with the black, already would draw the eye. But, by bringing the two textured ends together, just barely touching, Jacqueline has also created tension. We want to see more certainty in the connection, more undeniable strength especially with such a strong solid band created in the rest of the pieces structure. But no … we’re denied that and so we see that barely-there point as tense. We as humans are drawn to tension, whether we like it or not. (If the popularity of reality TV with all it’s confrontations and drama is any indicator, many, many people really like tension!) That’s why this focal point is so strong. If you are after a really strong, impactful focal point on a piece, this approach will almost certainly do it for you.
A note on this interesting black material. It is called Whitby jet and is basically a prehistoric black fossil that is usually associated with Victorian mourning jewelry, a trend started by Queen Victoria who wore it when she went into mourning for Prince Albert. It is not mined much today making it a rare material. Jacqueline is the only contemporary artist working with this material in a non-traditional manner. Pretty cool.
A Nomadic Moment
January 3, 2013
Inspirational Art
We’re taking a moment today to admire the work of Renata Jansen, sculptor of highly detailed dolls and figurines. Her subject matter touches on the fantastic as well as portraiture and interpretations of story and myth.
Damia here is a creature of the city. It took me a few times through the many images Renata posted (as she does for most of her dolls … you really get a detailed view of each one on her website) to realize that she’s winged. A great juxtaposition between fantasy and gritty street life in our own realm.
Renata has a serious dedication to realism (even in her fantastical creatures). She has an interesting set of tutorials on making tiny doll eyes from polymer and resin. They aren’t difficult, but as it is with her sculptures, its all about the details.
Working Well with One Concept
January 2, 2013
Inspirational Art
As an artist, do you spend your time learning a variety of techniques so you have many options to express yourself, or do you find one approach you like and work with it continuously until you have it done perfectly?
I suspect most polymer artists are drawn to this medium because of the variety of effects and applications possible. But some people can become completely enamored of a single application and I’m rather glad for that on most occasions. Take Cathy Braunlin’s work. She has really gotten covering objects in extruded rope filigree down to, well, an art. Her technique is straight forward–swirls and zig-zags fitted onto the surface of an object, then painted with mica powders usually in a rainbow of colors. The effect is quite dramatic and is the epitome of eye candy.
Cathy covers vases, lamps, pens, and other household items as well as using this technique on a variety of jewelry forms, all in this neat but varied texture. Is she a well accomplished polymer artist? It would depend on how you define “accomplished”. It’s also a question of whether labeling one in such a manner is important on any level. I enjoy her work and I bet many of you will also. She has taken this approach and done quite well with it. And all I can say is that I’m glad for it.
Happy New Year. This Year, Let’s Do It Now.
January 1, 2013
Inspirational Art, Ponderings
‘Tis New Year’s Day and I’m sure we all have, to some extent, thoughts of what we will do with ourselves in this coming year. What do we want to do differently, better, or even the same because it actually worked? What do we want to avoid doing or discard completely from our lives? And will we actually do these things?
It’s hard to say. The New Year reminds us to reflect and because the rest of the world is in the same contemplative mood, we find ourselves there, too. The hard part is not facing our failures and our need to improve but actually doing something about it. We all have such wonderful ideas and intentions, but we often stop there, with just the thoughts.
I have this work philosophy that is probably the one reason I can manage to do as much as I do and it is simply this … “Do it Now”. People are often surprised that they write me and often get an answer within a few minutes. Its because, for one, I’m here working most every hour of the day online and secondly, why should I wait to answer? If I do it now, it’s completed, I have moved forward and I will not waste time later rereading and revisiting the email.
When I’m in the studio, I do this with my art as well. If there is an idea I’ve wanted to try, why not try it now? This piece below by Karen Park was something she had been thinking about doing for years. It’s simple but quite elegant. A great piece. What if she had lost that idea? Doing it when it first came up would have guaranteed it’s existence, or something similar to it. I’m glad she did do it, even if it took some time.
Mind you, I am not saying that some ideas shouldn’t wait. Some designs should be left to “gestate,” as Karen called this process. But what you don’t want to do is keep saying “I should do that someday,” and keep revisiting the idea without anything coming of it.
So, just a suggestion for this New Year; If you have an idea, fully formed with all the materials you need in front of you, why not just start it? If you only have 5 mintues, sketch it. If you have 30 minutes while other things are in the oven, give it a go. Let’s make this the year of doing things, not just thinking about it. Let’s make it a year of creativity and success.
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It must be the mid-winter blues that keeps drawing me to the dramatically colored this week. I know whenever I am in need of an injection of bright and colorful and I can always count on Silvia Ortiz de la Torre. She is never shy and always experimenting with color, form and texture and how they work together.
Here is her latest post on her Flickr page. It’s a piece that almost shocks you into looking closer. The colors are so vibrant and the textures used make the whole piece seem alive.
You have to stop and wonder how something so colorful, created with fun little balls of wound polymer string and puffy pillows beads still comes across as being more sophisticated than silly. There is something in the boldness that exudes that professional level intent. I could see this on runway models or rich movie stars wandering Rodeo Drive. It’s kind of crazy. So crazy you have to envy Silvia’s talent. And maybe even aspire to be that bold and confident someday yourself.
Are you looking to increase the professional impact of your work? We’ve an article in the upcoming Spring Issue of The Polymer Arts magazine on just that subject. Don’t miss out on the issue. Pre-order it or get your subscription here today: www.thepolymerarts.com/Subscribe.html
Read MoreIt’s hard to find a polymer artist who doesn’t also have a love of beads. Many found their way to polymer through collecting and wanting to expand their bead options. So, it only makes sense that we combine them.
Stringing a necklace is one common way to combine our love of varied bead materials. Embedding beads into the surface of the clay is another. And below, we have yet another method outlined by Anne Poncet on her blog using seed beads to create a frame.
The process involves seed beads and wire, which is embedded in a backing of clay. She has two versions of the tutorial on her blog; one simple, quick and with lots of photos, then below there are detailed explanations for each step. Something fun to try out next time you are pondering what kind of finish you want for the edge of a piece.
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Mandala is a Sanskrit word meaning “circle.” These visually engaging patterns have spiritual and ritual significance for some eastern religions and western communities and have been growing in popularity as an art form.
Susan Buhrman is one of the most prolific mandala artists that I know of in our community. She uses cane slices, cut sheets of clay, beads and other objects to create the patterns for these wall pieces.
Mandalas aren’t just a beautiful art form; the creation of them can be quite a therapeutic activity. Take a number of scrap canes, sheet clay or what not and simply start placing them in a balanced and repetitive pattern on a board or other stiff, movable surface. Don’t think too much about it. Let your inner artist just play. This should get you into a very relaxing zone, and at the end of your time creating this, you may find yourself surprised by what you end up with. Just something fun and relaxing to try when you need it.
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I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. It was a little rough around here. There were numerous friends, pets, and family having more than just a little bit of a hard time. My heart goes out to all of you who are dealing with so much sorrow and frustration right now.
So today, I’d like to bring a little sunshine to us all. These beautifully bright beads are just the thing. The pure, highly saturated colors, a nice glossy polish and the graphic lines call for smiles and grins. We have Sagit of Karmiel, Israel to thank for this ray of sunshine this Monday.
Sigat is not afraid of color. In fact, our bold artist pushes bright and brilliant past what our little packages of clay would seem to hold. How is this possible? Actually the spacers of white and black separate the colors so we see them each clearly, and the contrast against the non-colors make them appear as saturated as possible. If the colors where side by side, our eyes would blur and mix them, even going so far as to tone down some of the characteristics that the colors have in common.
For instance, find the points in the clover canes on the flat beads where the reds and oranges touch. Where they meet there is far less drama and the colors don’t seem to have the punch where they meetup. Imagine a bead with just those colors pushed up against each other. It just wouldn’t have the punch.
Color is actually pretty crazy stuff. If you have never done any color study exercises, you can find some on the internet and in books that will just blow your mind. Try Marilyn Fenn’s pages for online exercises or Maggie Maggio’s and Lindly Haunani’s “Polymer Clay Color Inspirations“.
Have a beautiful and brillant start to your week.
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Doing the cover for each issue has to be the most nerve-wracking part of putting the magazine together. It’s what people see first. It can determine whether someone wants to buy it or not. It is that ever important first impression. It is ineveitably the one part I am never really satisfied with. But as I said earlier this week, one must know when to stop and decide a piece is done. So, this is my moment. Let me (and the talented Layl McDill) know what you think.
If you like this or just really like The Polymer Arts magazine, I would love for you to share this with your polymer friends and cohorts. For those who need to get their next issue ordered or renew your subscription, you can do so at www.thepolymerarts.com/Subscribe.html
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Earlier this week we talked about pushing your art, knowing when it’s time to stop perfecting it. But there is another side to that coin … knowing when to push it a little farther.
Being able to discern whether you’ve added to or worked out a design enough can be difficult, and it’s not something someone can readily teach you. It takes practice and mindful awareness of your process. So how do you know when to take your work a step or two further?
Well, here is an example. Fiona Abel-Smith created this image using a polymer technique first explored by Sue Heaser. It’s based off a mineral mosaic like technique called pietra dura. Fiona starts out with the first image, inlaying clay. Pretty nice as is, right? But then she adds little bits of clay in a painterly manner and the image goes from just nice to quite impressive.
The depth and dimension the bits of clay add takes it from great craft work to rich illustration. The texture gives it a liveliness it just didn’t have before.
Now, you might be saying to yourself, “I kind of like the one on the left better or at least as much.” In truth, the pietra dura is not better, it’s simply a different kind of piece. That is partly why knowing if you have taken it far enough is so hard to determine. So, when working on a piece, there are a couple questions you need to ask yourself. “What do I want this piece to be?” or “What is the purpose of this piece?” and then ask yourself, “Is there anything else I might do with this to accomplish what I am after?”
If you are unsure, you can add to and reaarange your work or try ideas out on a scrap piece before answering that last question. Playing with options is part of the process and certainly part of the fun. Just don’t ‘give up’ on a piece that you sense could be taken farther for what you want it to be. Push it a little, see what you discover. You can always go back if you don’t like what happens when you take it a step further.
And speaking of Sue Heaser, she’s already well-known for her many books on polymer and other crafts … she’s just recently released her first eBook, Polymer Clay Jewellery for Beginners: Book 1 – Millefiori Canes and it’s only $5. It’s a very clear and well laid out book for those who haven’t yet explored Millefiori and for those who teach, it can be a great tool to recommend to students for preparation before they come to your class so you don’t waste precious time getting them up to speed on basics.
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Today, we bring you a great combination of both visual and tactile texture, perfectly juxtaposed in this metal brooch by Judith Kinghorn.
We have on the left treated metal with a soft, warm antiqued coloration and almost stone like texture broken by rhythmic while on the right, granulation set into nautilus like cells whose partitions precisely repeat the lines on the surface treated metal. Two completely different textures. Not the same type of texture, not the same form, not the same depth and even the golds are different tones. But it works. Well. Simply because of the continuation of those rhythmic, swirling lines.
You don’t always need much to bring cohesiveness to a design. In fact, simple, direct and obvious elements can be your strongest tool for this. Contrast in a piece is a wonderful way to give it energy and excitement, but it does have to have something to bring it all together. But as you can see, it doesn’t need to be complicated. Theme for this weekend then … don’t over think it.
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Today we’re going to sit back and admire a great combination of materials. These bracelets are mokume gane polymer bangle bases with moving add-ons in the form of pmc, sterling silver, brass, and bronze rings that transverse the bangle as the wearer moves.
Celie Fago explains her rather lengthy process on the IPCA Synergy 2 page I found these on: “These bracelets evolve, in fits and starts, over the course of years. They mix many media and processes; they are material collaborations. I work in relays: I make the polymer bracelets, then the embellishments: I put them on the bracelets, take them off, move them from one to another …”
This brings up a couple thoughts. One … no work of art is ever really complete, is it? I think we could tweak and changes pieces forever, always seeing ways to improve or change them. The real talent is knowing when to stop.
The other thing that hit me about what she said was that these are “material collaborations”. We think about people collaborating but yes, why not consider how materials can “help” each other not just how they can fit together? In these bracelets, the variety of metal seems to actually increase the flash and depth of texture in the mokume gane. The metals and polymer are working together in a synergistic manner to make the parts, which seen on their own would not be so very impressive, integral and intriguing points in the whole of the composition.
Speaking of Synergy … if you plan on going to Synergy 3 in March, be sure to come and find The Polymer Arts in the vendors room and join me for my workshops and discussions on writing for the craft arts market, centralizing polymer information, and a interview panel of publishers chatting about what we do and why we do it for you. See you there!
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Mind you, its not me calling the process Natalija Pap used to create these splendid pieces below ‘simple’. Maybe it wasn’t Natalija either but the Google translator. This is how Google translated the introduction to her Live Journal entry: I finally seduced simply sculpting technique … It’s super! Show most recent work (much). They call ‘fungi’ “
Don’t you just love these translations? They are so entertaining! But art, at least, does not need translation and we can appreciate the work and vision of these “fun-gi” pieces without translation.
There are a number of applications using small pointy tools here. It’s possible i’ts all done with the same tool–the texture on the flowers and background, the pin-points, the decorative dots, and the dashes around the edges–but the variation is delightful.
These pieces had to take a fair amount of time and patience so I wouldn’t call it simple because the effort put into these really was not. However, if you break down the steps of many techniques, they are pretty simple. The question is, what is done with those simple steps. Much beauty and intricacy can come from the simplest things.
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